The Orthodox Economic Policy of the SPD Between 1929 and 1933

The SPD was not part of the government between 1930 and 1932, but tolerated the austerity and deflationary policies of the Brüning cabinet. The term tolerance suggests that the SPD supported the Brüning government against their economic policy convictions for the higher purpose of preserving democracy and peace. At least in the area of monetary and fiscal policy, however, it was more a matter of support than tolerance. Significant parts of the SPD even explicitly opposed early Keynesian ideas of an active economic policy. This gave the Nazis, of all people, the opportunity to appropriate an expansive economic policy programme developed by the trade unions and thus ultimately to use it for the labour movement. The zeal with which alternatives to orthodox economic policy were rejected can only be explained by the fact that the austerity and deflationary policies of the Brüning government coincided with the economic policy ideas and ideological convictions of many social democratic protagonists.